


Crumbs

by kathkin



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Gen, Little Doctors AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-16
Updated: 2016-08-16
Packaged: 2018-08-09 05:51:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7789156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kathkin/pseuds/kathkin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>This was turning out to be one of <i>those</i> days, Jamie reflected.</i> In which the Little Doctor is bored and Jamie is having a difficult day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crumbs

**Author's Note:**

> For [thescarletpaperback](http://thescarletpaperback.tumblr.com) for [this prompt](http://penny-anna.tumblr.com/post/148554015973/torture-my-character-sentence-meme): _Get in the locker, shorty!_

When he touched the card the Doctor had pilfered to the plate, it gave a soft _meep_ and with a protracted _hisssss_ of air escaping, the door opened. Beyond was a corridor lined with gleaming storage lockers. It was empty. Breathing a sigh of relief, Jamie stepped over the threshold.

He cast his eye over the numbers on the lockers, tapping the card against his lips as he decided which one to try first. Look for anything _suspicious_ , the Doctor had said. Well, Jamie thought this whole business of people living in space and doing experiments on sub-atomic whatever-they-weres was _suspicious_ , but that was neither here nor there. The Doctor thought something fishy was going on and when the Doctor smelled fish, he was usually right. 

He was contemplating just what constituted _suspicious_ in space cupboard in the distant future, when behind him he heard a noise. A soft, barely-there pattering of feet. The hairs on the back of his neck rising, his heart sinking, he realised he hadn't shut the door.

Slowly, dreading what he might see, he looked over his shoulder.

There, grinning up at him, rocking on its tiny feet, stood a miniature copy of the Doctor.

Jamie stared at it in stunned disbelief. “No,” he said. “Oh, no, no. You cannae be here. We left you in the TARDIS!”

“TARDIS?” echoed the little Doctor.

“Aye, the TARDIS!” Jamie said, pointing emphatically at the door. “Ye have to go back to the TARDIS before someone sees you!”

“TARDIS,” said the little Doctor, nodding sagely, as if he understood.

“Look.” Jamie dropped into a crouch. “You cannae just roam about, alright? If anyone sees you, then – then they'll have all sorts of, of tricky questions, and – well, they'll know we're no' who we said we are!” The crew of the station were under the impression the Doctor was – an inspector, or some sort of official. Jamie wasn't clear on the details, but so far he was managing to wing it. “So you have to go back to the TARDIS and play with your crayons – like we said, aye?”

The little Doctor stuck out his lip. “Bored.”

“I know, I'm bored too,” said Jamie, standing up. “But this is important, aye? Be off with you.”

Hanging his head, the little Doctor turned on his heel and shambled back along the corridor, his coat trailing behind him. Breathing out, Jamie turned his attention back to the lockers.

Almost the moment he turned his back, there was a flurry of noise and motion and something bowled into him, almost knocking him to the floor. “Hey – so!” he said, stumbling. “Don't _do_ that!” He kicked out – and it wrapped its tiny arms around his leg, and clung on tight.

“Great galloping gobstoppers!” it cried.

“Let _go_!” said Jamie, hopping, trying to shake it off.

“James Robert Mccrimmon, don't you order me about!” it squeaked.

“I'll order you about all I want,” Jamie huffed, prying its little clutching fingers off his calf. “Ye wee beastie – _there_.” He had it. Grabbing both wrists, he hauled it off his leg and held it at arms length, out of reach of its kicking feet. “Am I gonnae have to take you back there myself?”

It stuck out its tongue.

“Oh, I'm gonnae give you such a kick one of these days,” said Jamie, shaking his head.

The little Doctor beamed at him, all innocence.

Before he could decide what to do with the horrid little thing, he heard a sound behind him. The dreadful, ominous sound of a hydraulic door opening.

“Oh, no,” he moaned. “Oh, Lord –” He wheeled around, searching for a solution, any solution. There was only one thing for it. “Get in the locker, shorty!” he hissed, and holding it under one arm he opened the nearest locker and shoved it roughly inside.

He slammed the locker shut – just as the door to the officers' quarters swung open and a crisply-dressed figure swung into view. Station Commander Hood.

This was turning out to be one of _those_ days, Jamie reflected. He leaned on the locker and tried to look casual.

“Mister Mccrimmon,” said Commander Hood as he approached.

“Afternoon, commander,” said Jamie. “How are you?”

“I'm very well, thank you,” said Commander Hood.

“Oh aye, you're looking well,” said Jamie. “You look very, erm, handsome.” _What_? he thought.

The commander raised an eyebrow. “That's very kind of you to say.” He motioned over Jamie's shoulder. “I'd like to get into my locker, now, please.”

Jamie looked where Commander Hood was pointing. He looked very carefully, to be sure he'd understood. He pointed at the locker. “This is _your_ locker?”

“Yes, that's my locker.”

“This locker, just here? It's yours?”

“Yes, that's right.”

“Well, erm,” Jamie fumbled. “Are you sure?”

“Excuse me?”

“It's just, I was just thinkin'.” Inside the locker, something went _thud_ and then _tinkle_. “They all look the same, don't they? All these lockers. So maybe you might be, erm, muddled up. Maybe one of the others is yours.”

“No no,” said the commander. “That one's mine. Number twelve.”

Something struck the inside of the door. Jamie leaned on it harder. “Oh, aye? I'd have thought you'd be number one, being the commander and all.”

“I'm not a patient man, Mister Mccrimmon,” said Commander Hood.

“It's just, I – I cannae let you in.”

The locker door gave a sudden, violent jerk. He slammed it shut and leaned on it with all his might.

“What was that?”

“Rats,” Jamie burst out.

“ _Excuse_ me?”

“Your locker, it's got, erm, rats. That's why I cannae let you open it.”

“Rats?”

“Aye.”

“You do realise this is a space station?”

“Aye, well they're space rats.”

“ _Space_ rats?”

“Aye, I was surprised as well.” Jamie let out a panicked laugh.

“Are you going to move aside,” said the commander, “or am I going to have to call security?”

The locker door gave another rattle. Jamie looked at it hopelessly, wishing he was better at talking his way out of this sorts of messes. “Ach, _fine_ ,” he said. “But don't say I didn't warn you!”

After all, he thought as he stepped aside, maybe Commander Hood wouldn't notice the little Doctor. Maybe. Possibly. Somehow.

“Was that so hard?” said the commander, taking his keycard from his pocket.

But before he could so much as put the card to the plate, the door slammed open and a furious bundle of tiny flailing limbs and black coat flew out – straight at Hood's face.

Commander Hood shouted a very rude word. The little Doctor shouted, “CRUMBS!” Together they went down, striking the deck plate and writhing there, the little Doctor wrapped around the commander's head, the commander prying at its grasping limbs with muffled yelps. Jamie stared down at them, frozen, helpless in the face of the unfolding chaos.

The commander was saying, “get it off! Get it _off_!” And, Jamie supposed, he ought to at least try. Resigned, he dove into the fray.

The little Doctor was a tenacious brat, but it was also very ticklish. Jamie grasped it around its tiny waist and tickled, pulling and pulling until at last with a squeak and a giggle it came free. Jamie stumbled back with his squirming armful – and the commander popped up, red-faced.

“What _is_ that?” he said.

“Erm.”

“What was it doing in my locker?” Hood peered closer at the little Doctor's face, moving a lock of its hair out of the way. “Is that – good grief, is that the inspector?”

“No?”

“Then what _is_ it?”

“There's a perfectly simple explanation, commander,” Jamie gabbled.

“Oh, is there indeed?” said Commander Hood. “I'm dying to hear it.”

Jamie looked down at the little Doctor. It grinned up at him. “When I say _run_...”

Sometimes, the wee beast was wise beyond its... well, wise beyond whatever it was. “Run,” Jamie agreed, and clutching the little Doctor to his chest, he fled.


End file.
